


The Truth Behind Wander

by Scomrose



Category: Wander Over Yonder (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Body Horror, Eldritch, How Do I Tag This, Sylvia worries about wander, True Forms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29913558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scomrose/pseuds/Scomrose
Summary: Sylvia learns what Wander really is by mistake.
Relationships: Wander & Sylvia Zbornak
Kudos: 3





	The Truth Behind Wander

The cool, misty wind gently blew around Sylvia as she slept under the night sky, surrounded by plantlife. While she usually slept calmly, this time, she felt… uneasy. That unease was not helped by the fact that earlier she heard a strange noise, a sharp whistle hard to describe, before the sound of something flying off.

“Wander, buddy, you okay?” She asked, slowly rousing from her slumber. At first, she didn’t get a response, and she believed he was sleeping. But… she didn’t feel him on top of her. “...Wander?”

She shot up, feeling his hat fall off her back, as she looked around in a panic. Where was he? Why did he leave his hat behind?

“Oh no… no no _no_ ….” The blue zbornak muttered to herself in panic as her eyes widened, as she then tore up the nature around her as she looked everywhere for him. But he was gone.

“WANNNNDEEERR!” She called out into the blackness above her, the stars above merely twinkling in response. Something was horribly wrong. While it wasn’t unnatural of Wander to live up to his name, even in the dead of night, he never left his hat behind.

And Sylvia wasn’t going to let him get killed.

Grabbing the orbble juice from the hat, then flicking the bubble wand around herself, she ran off into the inky blackness above her, traveling into the cold vastness of space above her, eyes flicking in the direction of every celestial object around her, in hopes that she would find him somewhere, _anywhere_.

Thankfully, she did find him, on a lonely asteroid that was drifting across space, the only bit of life on it being him, standing alone, muttering to himself.

“Oh thank grop…” Sylvia said to herself, landing onto the stone before her as the bubble around her popped, as several words danced on the edge of her tongue.

But before she could get even a single syllable out, Wander  _ changed _

His fur that covered the top of his legs expanded, unfurling upon itself as it turned black- or perhaps colors she could not see- as an eye, black, with a white ring functioning as the pupil, formed in the center of each forming tentacle. Sharp claws, three on the edge of each tentacle, the shape and positioning resembling the talons of a bird, each one attached to the writhing form it was attached to by a fleshy joint, making it resemble a bird’s foot even more, rose out, to protect the fruit that was the eye on each tentacle.

His body then turned the same possible black his tentacles were, as his arms split apart, his fingers growing and growing, splitting apart his arms as well, as each one gained a sharp claw on top of it, replacing the fingertip on each one. His fur remained, though it seemed… _weirder_. As if each little strand of it was more of a smaller tentacle, writhing aimlessly. His smaller hair tufts on his head also seemed altered, as they looked like small horns or antenna, writhing in the windless atmosphere around them.

Through all of this, Wander (if this thing was even him) just… stared out into space. The tentacles covering his legs, now hiding them from view, writhed about on occasion, but he just looked towards the stars, an unreadable expression on his face.

Through all of this, all Sylvia could do was stare in horror. What… what was going on? Was that even Wander? Millions of questions raged in her mind, but she couldn’t even get out one. All she could do was stand still, looking at the twisting form before her.

Eventually, one of the eyes on the tentacles located her, and just… stared. She tried her best to avoid looking at it, but eventually, it’s brethren joined the staring at her, until the figure they were attached to turned around, ever so slowly.

The face of the Wander-thing was… haunting. It’s eyes were pitch black, the only things in those empty voids were white rings, reflecting endless amounts of color like a twisted prism. The rings seemed like they could go on forever, and were shrinking down to where his pupils would be in a hypnotic motion, ever flickering. 

His mouth looked partially sewn shut by his own strands of flesh, lines of skin shooting down at random points on his mouth. It almost seemed like at any point, the thing could open its mouth, revealing endless amounts of teeth, and snapping off the fleshbound restraints as it consumed the Zbornak before it.

Then, just as suddenly as his body unwound itself, it curled itself back into the small, orange furry form Sylvia knew and trusted.

The tentacles curled themselves back up, eyes shutting as they shrunk back into the slimy form they were attached to, the claws shrinking back into them as well, as the endless writhing shapes split apart into strands of fur, shrinking down, now merely covering his groin and thighs instead of his legs and beyond. His fingers merged back into a hand, claws shriveling away into dust as they faded from this reality, horrifying tools used to maul and slaughter forming back into simple hands, that wouldn't hurt a fly. The true color returned to him as well, the blackness beyond anyone comprehension twinking back into orange, as eventually, the thing reformed back into Wander, and turned around, eyes closed, mouth shut but unsown, as soon, the figure, which seemed corpselike, shot to life.

“Heya Syl!” The thing that could be Wander said, the cheer in his voice ever so clear “What brings you to this lovely lil’ place?”

“Wander… what…” Sylvia replied, grasping for words, any word that could describe how she felt about what she bore witness to. She had no idea if this was even Wander, and if it was, what the actual _grop_ he did “What… the actual flarp?”

“Okay, okay, it’s alllright, just calm down a-” Wander responded, grasping for an excuse from the endless he had in his mind.

“No. No, I’m not calming down just yet, ‘buddy’” Sylvia shouted, her stress and fear boiling over to anger, as she lifted up what she presumed was either Wander or some horrifying imitation. “You better start talking right now.”

“Syl- you can’t- true form- not what you think I am-” Wander choked out from the grip “Lemme go- I can explain for real-”

Dropping him, Sylvia stood before Wander(?), a stern expression on her face as she crossed her arms, making sure that he did nothing stupid.

“So Syl… “ Wander said, a weak smile on his face, trying to hide his anxiety over this. This was the only time he was telling anyone about his… true form. “You know those stories where there’s weird tentacle monsters who always bring people to madness?”

“Wander wh- what does this have to do with you?”

“Yeeeaahh… abooout that… there’s a sliiiight chance I might be one?”

Sylvia paused, as her expression faded to shock. Was he… being honest about this? No. No, that can’t be right. Wander couldn’t be some kind of eldritch horror…

“I know what you’re thinkin’ Syl ol’ girl” Wander responded to Sylvia train of thought “‘There’s nooo way nice ol’ Wander can be one of those scary monsters that eat souls n’ stuff! But it’s… it’s- uh…. it’s true. I’m sorry.”

Sylvia’s mind was racing with questions, only slight relief in the storm that was raging in her mind. Okay, that explained the tentacle monster thing and how she somehow got it into her mind that this was Wander somehow. But… how? And why?

“Wander… you… giant tentacle monster… eldritch god…” she managed to sputter out, trying to calm her panic as her entire body shook “But…”

“...But not murderous, I know.” Wander said, taking the words from her mouth. “Trust me when I say I really do want to help people! It’s just that… nobody’s going to want a giant being from before time to be near them, so I take on the guise of this…”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Sylvia said, her shaking having stopped, but questions still remained in her mind, “but why did you run off like that?”

“Easy. I’m not as strong as you think I am.” Wander answered. “Sometimes I need to stretch out myself, or else I risk stressing out my body, and revealing my true form to everyone. And that… tends to cause problems.”

Sylvia had her main questions answered, but even more were in her head. Was he always like this? Why did he leave his hat behind? 

All of those questions and more… could wait. Wander was safe, and she was extra tired from all of the… everything that happened.

“Oh! And one more thing Sylvia…” Wander stated out of nowhere “You, uh… miiight want to go to a hospital tomorrow, because… you looked into the eyes of my true form, and doing that… tends to melt the eyes of the one who looked into mine?”

“What.”


End file.
